System for controlling a vehicle computer using a mobile telephone

Abstract

A vehicle computer has a vehicle display and a vehicle input device, and a mobile telephone has a mobile telephone display and a mobile telephone input device. A method for controlling the vehicle computer using the mobile telephone has the following steps: an application is run on the mobile telephone; a control command for the vehicle is entered into the application by a user using the mobile telephone input device; a software library, which can be used by multiple applications, is operated by the application; the mobile telephone is connected to the vehicle computer via a local network connection using the software library, a software interface for the software library being implemented in the vehicle computer; the control command is transmitted to the software interface; and the control command is carried out by the vehicle computer.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for controlling a vehicle computer ( 12 ) of a vehicle ( 14 ) using a mobile telephone ( 16 ), the vehicle computer ( 12 ) having a vehicle display ( 18 ) and a vehicle input device ( 20 ), and the mobile telephone ( 16 ) having a mobile telephone display ( 26 ) and a mobile telephone input device ( 28 ), the method comprising:
 executing an application ( 46 ) on the mobile telephone ( 16 ); 
 assembling user elements by the application ( 46 ) for a graphical user interface of the application ( 46 ); 
 inputting, by a user, a control command for the vehicle ( 14 ) into the application ( 46 ) with the mobile telephone input device ( 28 ); 
 executing, by the application ( 46 ), a software library ( 40 ) usable by a plurality of applications; 
 connecting a software interface ( 42 ), for the software library ( 40 ), in the vehicle computer ( 12 ) to the mobile telephone ( 16 ) via a local network connection ( 30 ); 
 sending the control command to the software interface ( 42 ); 
 executing the control command by the vehicle computer ( 12 ); 
 retrieving design data from the vehicle computer ( 12 ) for the graphic representation of the user elements used by the mobile telephone application ( 46 ) by the software library ( 40 ) via the local network connection ( 30 ); and 
 generating a graphical user interface based on the design data supplied by the vehicle computer by the application ( 46 ). 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 controlling an application ( 44 ) in the vehicle computer ( 12 ) with the control command by the software interface ( 42 ). 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing, through the software interface ( 42 ), a vehicle bus system ( 22 ) used by the vehicle computer ( 12 ); and 
 controlling an electronic device ( 24 ) in the vehicle ( 14 ) connected to the vehicle bus system ( 22 ) with the control command. 
 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 retrieving diagnostic data from an electronic device ( 24 ) of the vehicle ( 14 ) via the software interface ( 42 ); 
 sending the diagnostic data from the software interface ( 42 ) to the software library ( 40 ) via the local network connection ( 30 ); and 
 providing the diagnostic data by the software library ( 40 ) for the application ( 46 ). 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sending compiled user elements to the software interface ( 42 ) of the vehicle computer ( 12 ) through the software library ( 40 ); and 
 displaying a graphical user interface of the application ( 46 ) on the vehicle display ( 18 ) with the assembled user elements, user elements being represented by the design data of the vehicle computer ( 12 ). 
 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 inputting user commands on the vehicle input device ( 20 ) by a user; 
 sending the user commands from the software interface ( 42 ) to the software library ( 40 ) via the local network connection ( 30 ); and 
 transmitting the user commands to the mobile telephone application ( 46 ) through the software library ( 40 ). 
 
     
     
       7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program for controlling a vehicle ( 14 ), which, when executed on processors of a mobile telephone ( 16 ) and of a vehicle computer ( 12 ), carries out the steps of the method as claimed in  claim 1 .